Cris Barrish
Cris Barrish, a national award-winning investigative reporter, covers stories about Delaware.
Cris worked at Wilmington (Del.) News Journal for 34 years, starting out writing about local sports but ultimately becoming the senior investigative reporter — a position he held for nearly two decades. At the News Journal, he won dozens of national and regional awards for his exposés about corruption, incompetence, and sheer outrageousness in the First State. He won the University of Colorado/Denver Press Club Al Nakkula Award for Police reporting and other honors for his Pulitzer Prize-nominated series of investigative stories on the failed efforts by police, prosecutors, and medical officials to stop a pedophile pediatrician who raped more than 100 young girls he treated.
He was lead author of “Fatal Embrace,” a true-crime book about the murder by prominent attorney Tom Capano of gubernatorial secretary Ann Marie Fahey. He has appeared in several television documentaries and on radio and cable news about cases he covered, including A&E’s “American Justice” and “City Confidential,” the Discovery Network, CNN, NPR, and local and regional news shows.
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The push to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Delaware looked like it was dead just a month ago. But lawmakers and advocates say a creative, revived effort now stands a decent chance of passing. WHYY's Cris Barrish reports.
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Eight months after Delaware lawmakers mandated police body cams statewide, officers from many departments aren't wearing them. That means there's no body camera evidence to provide insight into incidents like the fatal shooting of a man by Dewey Beach police.
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Two years ago, Pete Buttigieg was an Indiana mayor seeking to wrest the Democratic nomination away from Joe Biden. But Friday he was in his boss Biden's home state of Delaware, touting the wonders of electric vehicles. WHYY's Cris Barrish reports.
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Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings is shining a light on what she says is a pervasive and deadly problem in the First State and nationwide: illegal "straw purchases" of firearms for criminals and gang members who are prohibited from buying them. WHYY's Cris Barrish reports.
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A Delaware man pleaded guilty to peddling the deadly drug fentanyl last week in federal court. Authorities said he admitted to a DEA informant that one customer died from an overdose. WHYY's Cris Barrish reports.
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Delaware’s indoor mask mandate will end Friday after being in place for a month to help stem the surge of the COVID-19 omicron variant. Governor John Carney is also lifting the school mask requirement mandate on April 1. WHYY's Cris Barrish reports.
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Delaware hospitals have been overwhelmed in recent weeks because of the crush of COVID-19 patients during the pandemic's worst surge. WHYY's Cris Barrish visited Wilmington Hospital to assess the toll.
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Delaware lawmakers are once again considering a bill that would let terminally ill residents take a lethal cocktail of medications to end their suffering. It's something 10 states, including New Jersey, already allow. WHYY's Cris Barrish reports.
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COVID-19 cases have shattered previous daily records in Delaware in recent days, and hospitalizations are just below the peak of a year ago. The situation led Governor John Carney to announce that he will redeclare a state of emergency. WHYY's Cris Barrish has more.
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A University of Delaware oceanographer is a leader in a decade-long quest to search the seas and battlefields of World War II for remains of American servicemen killed in World War II. WHYY's Cris Barrish reports on the effort that is now memorialized in a documentary.